1 <!doctype debiandoc system>
5 <title> Policy checklist for upgrading your packages </title>
6 <author> Bill Allombert <email/ballombe@debian.org/ </author>
7 <author> Josip Rodin </author>
8 <author> Julian Gilbey </author>
9 <author> Russ Allbery </author>
10 <author> Manoj Srivastava <email/srivasta@debian.org/
12 <chapt> About the checklist
14 The checklist below has been created to simplify the upgrading process
15 of old packages. Note that this list is not "official"; it simply
16 gives an indication of what has changed and whether you are likely to
17 need to make changes to your package in light of this. If you have
18 doubts about a certain topic, if you need more details, or if you
19 think some other package does not comply with policy, please refer to
20 the Policy Manual itself. All of the changes from version 3.0.0
21 onwards indicate which section of the Policy Manual discusses the
22 issue: [3.4] means section 3.4. The section numbering changed when
23 the packaging manual was incorporated into policy; the section numbers
24 used below refer to the current version.
26 Here is how the check list works: Check which policy version your
27 package was checked against last (indicated in the "Standards-Version"
28 field of the source package). Then move upwards until the top and
29 check which of the items on the list might concern your package. Note
30 which sections of policy discuss this, and then check out the Policy
31 Manual for details. If you are upgrading from Policy version < 2.5.0,
32 it may be easier to check through the whole of policy instead of
33 picking your way through this list.
37 <sect> Version 3.9.2.0
44 <item>Clarify the duties of a maintainer, require that the maintainer
45 address accept mail from Debian role accounts and the BTS, and require
46 at least one human with their personal email address
47 in <tt>Uploaders</tt> if the maintainer is a shared email address.
50 <item>Document the <tt>DM-Upload-Allowed</tt> field.
53 <item>GNU/Hurd systems are allowed <file>/hurd</file>
54 and <file>/servers</file> directories in the root filesystem.
57 <item><tt>mailx</tt> added as a virtual package provided by packages
58 that install <prgn>/usr/bin/mailx</prgn> and implement at least the
59 POSIX-required interface.
62 <item>Packages installing to architecture-specific subdirectories of
63 <file>/url/lib</file> must use the value returned by
64 <prgn>dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_MULTIARCH</prgn>, not by
65 <prgn>dpkg-architecture -qDEB_HOST_GNU_TYPE</prgn>; this is a path change
66 on i386 architectures and a no-op for other architectures.
70 <sect> Version 3.9.1.0
77 <item>Date-based version components should be given as the four-digit
78 year, two-digit month, and then two-digit day, but may have embedded
82 <item>Maintainer scripts must pass <tt>--package</tt>
83 to <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> when creating or removing diversions and
84 must not use <tt>--local</tt>.
87 <item>Only <prgn>dpkg-gencontrol</prgn> supports variable substitution.
88 <prgn>dpkg-genchanges</prgn> (for <file>*.changes</file>)
89 and <prgn>dpkg-source</prgn> (for <file>*.dsc</file>) do not.
92 <item>Architecture restrictions and wildcards are also allowed in binary
93 package relationships provided that the binary package is not
94 architecture-independent.
97 <item><tt>Conflicts</tt> and <tt>Breaks</tt> should only be used when
98 there are file conflicts or one package breaks the other, not just
99 because two packages provide similar functionality but don't interfere.
102 <item>The SONAME of a library should change whenever the ABI of the
103 library changes in a way that isn't backward-compatible. It should not
104 change if the library ABI changes are backward-compatible. Discourage
105 bundling shared libraries together in one package.
108 <item>Ada Library Information (<file>*.ali</file>) files must be
111 <tag>8.6.1, 8.6.2, 8.6.5</tag>
112 <item>Packages should normally not include a <file>shlibs.local</file>
113 file since we now have complete <file>shlibs</file> coverage.
116 <item>The SONAME of a library may instead be of the
117 form <tt><var>name</var>-<var>major-version</var>.so</tt>.
120 <item>Libtool <file>.la</file> files should not be installed for public
121 libraries. If they're required (for <tt>libltdl</tt>, for instance),
122 the <tt>dependency_libs</tt> setting should be emptied. Library
123 packages historically including <file>.la</file> files must continue to
124 include them (with <tt>dependency_libs</tt> emptied) until all libraries
125 that depend on that library have removed or emptied
126 their <file>.la</file> files.
129 <item>Libraries no longer need to be built with <tt>-D_REENTRANT</tt>,
130 which was an obsolete LinuxThreads requirement. Instead, say explicitly
131 that libraries should be built with threading support and to be
132 thread-safe if the library supports this.
135 <item><file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that <prgn>kill</prgn>
136 supports an argument of <tt>-<var>signal</var></tt>,
137 that <prgn>kill</prgn> and <prgn>trap</prgn> support the numeric signals
138 listed in the XSI extension, and that signal 13 (SIGPIPE) can be trapped
139 with <prgn>trap</prgn>.
142 <item>Recommend <file>/etc/logrotate.d/<var>package</var></file> for
146 <item>Control information files should be owned by <tt>root:root</tt>
147 and either mode 644 or mode 755.
149 <tag>11.4, 11.8.3, 11.8.4</tag>
150 <item>Packages providing alternatives for <prgn>editor</prgn>,
151 <prgn>pager</prgn>, <prgn>x-terminal-emulator</prgn>, or
152 <prgn>x-window-manager</prgn> should also provide a slave alternative
153 for the corresponding manual page.
156 <item>Cgi-bin executable files may be installed in subdirectories
157 of <file>/usr/lib/cgi-bin</file> and web servers should serve out
158 executables in those subdirectories.
161 <item>The GPL version 1 is now included in common-licenses and should be
162 referenced from there instead of included in the <file>copyright</file>
167 <sect> Version 3.9.0.0
173 <tag>4.4, 5.6.15</tag>
174 <item>The required format for the date in a changelog entry and in the
175 Date control field is now precisely specified.
178 <item>A control paragraph must not contain more than one instance of a
179 particular field name.
181 <tag>5.4, 5.5, 5.6.24</tag>
182 <item>Document and recommend the <tt>Checksums-Sha1</tt>
183 and <tt>Checksums-Sha256</tt> fields in <file>*.dsc</file>
184 and <file>*.changes</file> files.
186 <tag>5.5, 5.6.16</tag>
187 <item>The <tt>Format</tt> field of <file>.changes</file> files is now
188 1.8. The <tt>Format</tt> field syntax for source
189 package <file>.dsc</file> files allows a subtype in parentheses, and it
190 is used for a different purpose than the <tt>Format</tt> field
191 for <file>.changes</file> files.
194 <item>The syntax of the <tt>Maintainer</tt> field is now must rather
198 <item>The comma separating entries in <tt>Uploaders</tt> is now must
201 <tag>5.6.8, 7.1, 11.1.1</tag>
202 <item>Architecture wildcards may be used in addition to specific
203 architectures in <file>debian/control</file> and <file>*.dsc</file>
204 Architecture fields, and in architecture restrictions in build
208 <item>Maintainer scripts are no longer guaranteed to run with a
209 controlling terminal and must be able to fall back to noninteractive
210 behavior (debconf handles this). Maintainer scripts may abort if there
211 is no controlling terminal and no reasonable default for a high-priority
212 question, but should avoid this if possible.
214 <tag>7.3, 7.6.1</tag>
215 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should be used with <tt>Replaces</tt> for moving
216 files between packages.
219 <item><tt>Breaks</tt> should normally be used instead
220 of <tt>Conflicts</tt> for transient issues and moving files between
221 packages. New documentation of when each should be used.
224 <item>Use <tt>Conflicts</tt> with <tt>Provides</tt> if only one provider
225 of a virtual facility can be installed at a time.
228 <item>All shared library development files are no longer required to be
229 in the <tt>-dev</tt> package, only be available when the <tt>-dev</tt>
230 package is installed. This allows the <tt>-dev</tt> package to be split
231 as long as it depends on the additional packages.
234 <item>The UID range of user accounts is extended to 1000-59999.
236 <tag>9.3.2, 10.4</tag>
237 <item><file>init.d</file> scripts are a possible exception from the
238 normal requirement to use <tt>set -e</tt> in each shell script.
241 <item>The UCB BSD license was removed from the list of licenses that
242 should be referenced from <file>/usr/share/common-licenses/BSD</file>.
243 It should instead be included directly
244 in <file>debian/copyright</file>, although it will still be in
245 common-licenses for the time being.
248 <item>Add <tt>SETTITLE</tt> (which has been supported for some time).
249 Like <tt>TITLE</tt> but takes a template instead of a string to allow
253 <item><package>perl-base</package> now
254 provides <package>perlapi-<var>abiname</var></package> instead of a
255 package based solely on the Perl version. Perl packages must now depend
256 on <package>perlapi-$Config{debian_abi}</package>, falling back
257 on <tt>$Config{version}</tt> if <tt>$Config{debian_abi}</tt> is not set.
260 <item>Packages using <file>Makefile.PL</file> should use
261 <tt>DESTDIR</tt> rather than <tt>PREFIX</tt> to install into the package
262 staging area. <tt>PREFIX</tt> only worked due to a Debian-local patch.
266 <sect> Version 3.8.4.0
273 <item> An FHS exception has been granted for multiarch libraries.
274 Permitting files to instead be installed to <file>/lib/triplet</file> and
275 <file>/usr/lib/triplet</file> directories.
278 <item>Explicitly state that packages may not contain named pipes and
279 should instead create them in postinst and remove them in prerm or postrm.
282 <item><file>/sys</file> and <file>/selinux</file> directories are explicitly
283 allowed as an exception to the FHS.
287 <sect> Version 3.8.3.0
293 <item>Add DEB_*_ARCH_CPU and DEB_*_ARCH_OS variables and
294 recommend them over GNU-style variables for that information.
297 <item>Source package Architecture fields may contain <em/all/ in
298 combination with other architectures. Clarify when <em/all/ and <em/any/
299 may be used in different versions of the field.
302 <item>The Debian archive software does not support uploading
303 to multiple distributions with one <file>*.changes</file> file.
306 <item>The Binary field may span multiple lines.
309 <item>Remove the permission for shared library packages to
310 install libraries in a non-standard location and modify <file/ld.so.conf/.
311 Packages should either be installed in a standard library directory
312 or packages using them should be built with RPATH.
315 <item>Clarify installation directories for X programs and
316 remove the requirement to pre-depend on x11-common before installing
317 into <file>/usr/include/X11</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11</file>.
320 <item>Remove the requirement that all characters in a manual
321 page be representable in the legacy encoding for that language.
324 <item>Localized man pages should either be kept up-to-date with
325 the original version or warn that they're not up-to-date, either
326 with warning text or by showing missing or changed portions in the
330 <item>install-info is now handled via triggers so packages no
331 longer need to invoke it in maintainer scripts. Info documents
332 should now have directory sections and entries in the document.
333 Packages containing info documents should add a dependency to
334 support partial upgrades.
337 <item>The requirement for Perl modules to have a versioned
338 Depend and Build-Depend on <tt>perl >= 5.6.0-16</tt> has been removed.
342 <sect> Version 3.8.2.0
349 <item>The list of archive sections has been significantly expanded. See
350 <url id="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2009/03/msg00010.html"
351 name="this debian-devel-announce message">
352 for the list of new sections and rules for how to categorize
356 <item>All packages must use debconf or equivalent for user prompting,
357 though essential packages or their dependencies may also fall
358 back on other methods.
361 <item>The requirements for source package names are now explicitly
365 <item>Legacy XFree86 servers no longer get a special exception from the
366 FHS permitting <file>/etc/X11/XF86Config-4</file>.
369 <item>Removed obsolete dependency requirements for packages that use
370 <file>/var/mail</file>.
373 <item>Speedo fonts are now deprecated. The X backend was disabled
377 <item>The GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 is included in
378 common-licenses and should be referenced from there.
382 <sect> Version 3.8.1.0
389 <item>Care should be taken when adding functionality to essential and
390 such additions create an obligation to support that functionality
391 in essential forever unless significant work is done.
394 <item>Changelog files must be encoded in UTF-8.
397 <item>Tighten some format requirements for changelog files from a should
401 <item>Remove alternative changelog formats. Debian only supports one
402 changelog format for the Debian Archive.
405 <item>New nocheck option for DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS indicating any build-time
406 test suite provided by the package should not be run.
409 <item>All control files must be encoded in UTF-8.
412 <item>debian/control allows comment lines starting with # with no
413 preceding whitespace.
416 <item>Init scripts ending in .sh are not handled specially. They are not
417 sourced and are not guaranteed to be run by <prgn>/bin/sh</prgn> regardless
418 of the #! line. This brings Policy in line with the long-standing
419 behavior of the init system in Debian.
422 <item>The start action of an init script must exit successfully and not
423 start the daemon again if it's already running.
426 <item><file>/var/run</file> and <file>/var/lock</file> may be mounted as
427 temporary filesystems, and init scripts must therefore create any necessary
428 subdirectories dynamically.
431 <item> <file>/bin/sh</file> scripts may assume that local can take multiple
432 variable arguments and supports assignment.
435 <item>User mailboxes may be mode 600 and owned by the user rather than
436 mode 660, owned by user, and group mail.
440 <sect> Version 3.8.0.0
447 <item>The base section has been removed. contrib and non-free have been
448 removed from the section list; they are only categories. The base
449 system is now defined by priority.
451 <item>If <prgn>dpkg-source -x</prgn> doesn't provide the source that will be
452 compiled, a debian/rules patch target is recommended and should do whatever
454 <tag>4.9.1, 10.1</tag>
455 <item>Standardized the format of DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS. Specified permitted
456 characters for tags, required that tags be whitespace-separated,
457 allowed packages to assume non-conflicting tags, and required
458 unknown flags be ignored.
460 <item>Added parallel=n to the standardized DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS tags,
461 indicating that a package should be built using up to n parallel
462 processes if the package supports it
464 <item>Debian packages should not use convenience copies of code from other
465 packages unless the included package is explicitly intended to be
468 <item>If dpkg-source -x doesn't produce source ready for editing and
469 building with dpkg-buildpackage, packages should include a
470 <file>debian/README.source</file> file explaining how to generate
471 the patched source, add a new modification, and remove an existing
472 modification. This file may also be used to document packaging a
473 new upstream release and any other complexity of the Debian build
476 <item>The Uploaders field in debian/control may be wrapped.
478 <item>An empty Debian revision is equivalent to a Debian revision of 0 in
481 <item>New Homepage field for upstream web sites.
482 <tag>6.5, 6.6, 7</tag>
483 <item>The Breaks field declares that this package breaks another and
484 prevents installation of the breaking package unless the package
485 named in Breaks is deconfigured first. This field should not be
486 used until the dpkg in Debian stable supports it.
488 <item>Clarify which files should go into a shared library package, into a
489 separate package, or into the -dev package. Suggest -tools instead
490 of -runtime for runtime support programs, since that naming is more
493 <item>Files in <file>/etc/cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly}</file> must be
494 configuration files (upgraded from should). Mention the hourly
497 <item>Packages providing <file>/etc/X11/Xresources</file> files need not
498 conflict with <tt> xbase (<< 3.3.2.3a-2)</tt>, which is
501 <item>Manual pages in locale-specific directories should use either the
502 legacy encoding for that directory or UTF-8. Country names should
503 not be included in locale-specific manual page directories unless
504 indicating a significant difference in the language. All
505 characters in the manual page source should be representable in the
506 legacy encoding for a locale even if the man page is encoded in
509 <item>The Apache 2.0 license is now in common-licenses and should be
510 referenced rather than quoted in <file>debian/copyright</file>.
512 <item>Packages in contrib and non-free should state in the copyright file
513 that the package is not part of Debian GNU/Linux and briefly
516 <item>Underscore (_) is allowed in debconf template names.
519 <sect> Version 3.7.3.0
526 <item>Package version numbers may contain tildes, which sort before
527 anything, even the end of a part.
529 <item>Scripts may assume that <file>/bin/sh</file> supports local (at a basic
530 level) and that its test builtin (if any) supports -a and -o binary
533 <item>The substitution variable ${binary:Version} should be used in place
534 of ${Source-Version} for dependencies between packages of the same
536 <tag>menu policy</tag>
537 <item>Substantial reorganization and renaming of sections in the Debian
538 menu structure. Packages with menu entries should be reviewed to
539 see if the menu section has been renamed or if one of the new
540 sections would be more appropriate.
542 <item>The Source field in a .changes file may contain a version number
545 <item>The acceptable values for the Urgency field are low, medium, high,
546 critical, or emergency.
548 <item>The shlibs file now allows an optional type field, indicating the
549 type of package for which the line is valid. The only currently
550 supported type is udeb, used with packages for the Debian
553 <item>Packages following the Debian Configuration management
554 specification must allow for translation of their messages by using
555 a gettext-based system such as po-debconf.
557 <item>GFDL 1.2, GPL 3, and LGPL 3 are now in common-licenses and should
558 be referenced rather than quoted in debian/copyright.
561 <sect> Version 3.7.2.2
567 <tag>6.1</tag> <item>Maintainer scripts must not be world writeable (up from a
568 should to a must)</item>
571 <sect> Version 3.7.2.0
577 <tag>11.5</tag> <item>Revert the cgi-lib change. </item>
580 <sect> Version 3.7.1.0
587 <item>It is now possible to create shared libraries without
588 relocatable code (using -fPIC) in certain exceptional cases,
589 provided some procedures are followed, and for creating static
590 libraries with relocatable code (again, using -fPIC).
591 Discussion on debian-devel@lists.debian.org, getting a rough
592 consensus, and documenting it in README.Debian constitute most
595 <item>Packages should install any relevant files into the directories
596 <file>/usr/include/X11/</file> and <file>/usr/lib/X11/</file>, but if
597 they do so, they must pre-depend on <tt>x11-common (>= 1:7.0.0)</tt>
600 <sect> Version 3.7.0.0
607 <item>Packages shipping web server CGI files are expected to install
608 them in <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib/</file> directories. This location change
609 perhaps should be documented in NEWS
611 <item>Web server packages should include a standard scriptAlias of
612 cgi-lib to <file>/usr/lib/cgi-lib</file>.
614 <item>The version of FHS mandated by policy has been upped to
615 2.3. There should be no changes required for most packages,
616 though new top level directories <file>/media</file>, <file>/srv</file>,
617 etc. may be of interest.
618 <tag>5.1, 5.6.3</tag>
619 <item>All fields, apart from the Uploaders field, in the control file
620 are supposed to be a single logical line, which may be spread
621 over multiple physical lines (newline followed by space is
622 elided). However, any parser for the control file must allow
623 the Uploaders field to be spread over multiple physical lines
624 as well, to prepare for future changes.
626 <item>When scripts are installed into a directory in the system
627 PATH, the script name should not include an extension that
628 denotes the scripting language currently used to implement it.
631 <item>packages that invoke initscripts now must use invoke-rc.d to do
632 so since it also pays attention to run levels and other local
634 <tag>11.8.5.2, 11.8.7, etc</tag>
635 <item>We no longer use <file>/usr/X11R6</file>, since we have
636 migrated away to using Xorg paths. This means, for one thing, fonts
637 live in <file>/usr/share/fonts/X11/</file> now, and <file>/usr/X11R6</file>
641 <sect> Version 3.6.2.0
648 <item>Recommend. doc-base, and not menu, for registering package documentation.
651 <item>Run time support programs should live in subdirectories of
652 <file>/usr/lib/</file> or <file>/usr/share</file>, and preferably the shared
653 lib is named the same as the package name (to avoid name collisions).
656 <item>It is recommended that HTTP servers provide an alias /images to
657 allow packages to share image files with the web server
661 <sect> Version 3.6.1.0
668 <item>Prompting the user should be done using debconf. Non debconf
669 user prompts are now deprecated.
679 <item>Restructuring causing shifts in section numbers and bumping of
680 the minor version number:
682 <item>Many packaging manual appendices that were integrated into policy
683 sections are now empty, and replaced with links to the Policy.
684 In particular, the appendices that included the list of control
685 fields were updated (new fields like Closes, Changed-By were added)
686 and the list of fields for each of control, .changes and .dsc files
687 is now in Policy, and they're marked mandatory, recommended or
688 optional based on the current practice and the behavior of the
689 deb-building tool-chain.
691 <item>Elimination of needlessly deep section levels, primarily in the
692 chapter Debian Archive, from which two new chapters were split out,
693 Binary packages and Source packages. What remained was reordered
694 properly, that is, some sects became sects etc.
696 <item>Several sections that were redundant, crufty or simply not designed
697 with any sort of vision, were rearranged according to the formula that
698 everything should be either in the same place or properly interlinked.
699 Some things remained split up between different chapters when they
700 talked about different aspects of files: their content, their syntax,
701 and their placement in the file system. In particular, see the new
702 sections about changelog files.
703 <tag>menu policy</tag>
704 <item>Added Games/Simulation and Apps/Education to menu
707 <item>Debian changelogs should be UTF-8 encoded.
709 <item>shared libraries must be linked against all libraries that they
710 use symbols from in the same way that binaries are.
712 <item>build-depends-indep need not be satisfied during clean
716 <sect> Version 3.5.10
723 <item>packages providing the x-terminal-emulator virtual package
724 ought to ensure that they interpret the command line exactly
727 <item>Window managers compliant with the Window Manager Specification
728 Project may add 40 points for ranking in the alternatives
731 <sect> Version 3.5.9.0
738 <item>The section describing the Description: package field once again has
739 full details of the long description format.
741 <item>Clarified that if a package has non-build-essential
742 build-dependencies, it should have them listed in the Build-Depends
743 and related fields (i.e. it's not merely optional).
745 <item>When asked to restart a service that isn't already running,
746 the init script should start the service.
748 <item>If the purpose of a package is to provide examples, then the
749 example files can be installed into <file>/usr/share/doc/package</file>
750 (rather than <file>/usr/share/doc/package/examples</file>).
753 <sect> Version 3.5.8.0
760 <item>It is no longer necessary to keep a log of changes to the upstream
761 sources in the copyright file. Instead, all such changes should be
762 documented in the changelog file.
764 <item><var/Build-Depends/, <var/Build-Conflicts/, <var/Build-Depends-Indep/,
765 and <var/Build-Conflicts-Indep/ must also be satisfied when the clean
767 <tag>menu policy</tag>
768 <item>A new Apps/Science menu section is available
769 <tag>debconf policy</tag>
770 <item>debconf specification cleared up, various changes.
772 <item>It is no longer recommended to create symlinks from nonexistent
773 manual pages to undocumented(7). Missing manual pages for programs
777 <sect> Version 3.5.7.0
784 <item>Packages no longer have to ask permission to call MAKEDEV in
785 postinst, merely notifying the user ought to be enough.
787 <item>cryptographic software may now be included in the main
790 <item>task packages are no longer permitted; tasks are now created by a
791 special Tasks: field in the control file.
793 <item>window managers that support netwm can now add 20 points when
794 they add themselves as an alternative for
795 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file>
797 <item>The default compilation options have now changed, one should
798 provide debugging symbols in all cases, and optionally step
799 back optimization to -O0, depending on the DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS
800 environment variable.
802 <item>Added mention of build-arch, build-indep, etc, in describing
803 the relationships with `Build-Depends', `Build-Conflicts',
804 `Build-Depends-Indep', and `Build-Conflicts-Indep'. May need to
805 review the new rules.
807 <item>Changed rules on how, and when, to invoke ldconfig in maintainer
808 scripts. Long rationale.
812 Added the last note in 3.5.6 upgrading checklist item regarding build
813 rules, please see below
816 <sect> Version 3.5.6.0
823 <item>Emacs and TeX are no longer mandated by policy to be priority
826 <item>Programs that access docs need to do so via <file>/usr/share/doc</file>,
827 and not via <file>/usr/doc/</file> as was the policy previously
829 <item>Putting documentation in <file>/usr/doc</file> versus
830 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> is now a ``serious'' policy violation.
832 <item>For web servers, one should not provide non-local access to the
833 <file>/usr/share/doc</file> hierarchy. If one can't provide access
834 controls for the http://localhost/doc/ directory, then it is preferred
835 that one ask permission to expose that information during the install.
837 <item>There are new rules for build-indep/build-arch targets and
838 there is a new Build-Depend-Indep semantic.
841 <sect> Version 3.5.5.0
848 <item>Manpages should not rely on header information to have
849 alternative manpage names available; it should only use
850 symlinks or .so pages to do this
853 <item><em> Clarified note in 3.5.3.0 upgrading checklist regarding
854 examples and templates: this refers only to those examples used
855 by scripts; see section 10.7.3 for the whole story</em>
858 <item>Included a new section 10.9.1 describing the use of
859 dpkg-statoverride; this does not have the weight of policy
862 <item>Clarify Standards-Version: you don't need to rebuild your
863 packages just to change the Standards-Version!
866 <item>Plugins are no longer bound by all the rules of shared
869 <tag>X Windows related things:</tag>
872 <item>Clarification of priority levels of X Window System related
876 <item>Rules for defining x-terminal-emulator improved </item>
878 <item>X Font policy rewritten: you must read this if you provide
879 fonts for the X Window System
882 <item>Packages must not ship <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/</file>
885 <item>X-related packages should usually use the regular FHS
886 locations; imake-using packages are exempted from this
889 <item>OpenMotif linked binaries have the same rules as
890 OSF/Motif-linked ones
895 <sect> Version 3.5.4.0
896 <p> Released Apr 2001.
900 <item>The system-wide mail directory is now /var/mail, no longer
901 /var/spool/mail. Any packages accessing the mail spool should
902 access it via /var/mail and include a suitable Depends field;
905 <tag>11.9; perl-policy</tag>
906 <item>The perl policy is now part of Debian policy
907 proper. Perl programs and modules should follow the current Perl
912 <sect> Version 3.5.3.0
913 <p> Released Apr 2001
917 <item>Build-Depends arch syntax has been changed to be less
918 ambiguous. This should not affect any current packages
921 <item>Examples and templates files for use by scripts should now live
922 in <file>/usr/share/<package></file> or
923 <file>/usr/lib/<package></file>, with symbolic links from
924 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> as needed
928 <sect> Version 3.5.2.0
930 <p> Released Feb 2001.
934 <item>X app-defaults directory has moved from
935 <file>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults</file> to
936 <file>/etc/X11/app-defaults</file>
940 <sect> Version 3.5.1.0
942 <p> Released Feb 2001.
946 <item>dpkg-shlibdeps now uses objdump, so shared libraries have to be
947 run through dpkg-shlibdeps as well as executables
951 <sect> Version 3.5.0.0
953 <p> Released Jan 2001.
957 <item>Font packages for the X Window System must now declare a
958 dependency on xutils (>= 4.0.2)
962 <sect> Version 3.2.1.1
964 <p> Released Jan 2001.
968 <item>Daemon startup scripts in <file>/etc/init.d/</file> should not contain
969 modifiable parameters; these should be moved to a file in
970 <file>/etc/default/</file>
973 <item>Files in <file>/usr/share/doc</file> must not be referenced by any
974 program. If such files are needed, they must be placed in
975 <file>/usr/share/<package>/</file>, and symbolic links
976 created as required in <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/</file>
979 <item>Much of the packaging manual has now been imported into the
984 <sect> Version 3.2.1.0
990 <item>A package of priority standard or higher may provide two
991 binaries, one compiled with support for the X Window System,
992 and the other without
996 <sect> Version 3.2.0.0
1002 <item>By default executables should not be built with the debugging
1003 option -g. Instead, it is recommended to support building the
1004 package with debugging information optionally. Details in
1007 <item>Policy for packages where the upstream uses HTML changelog
1008 files has been expanded. In short, a plain text changelog file
1009 should always be generated for the upstream changes
1012 <item>Please note that the new release of the X window system (3.2)
1013 shall probably need sweeping changes in policy
1016 <item>Policy for packages providing the following X-based features
1020 <item>X server (virtual package xserver) </item>
1022 <item>X terminal emulator (virtual package x-terminal-emulator) </item>
1024 <item>X window manager (virtual package x-window-manager, and
1025 <file>/usr/bin/x-window-manager</file> alternative, with priority
1026 calculation guidelines)
1029 <item>X fonts (this section has been written from scratch) </item>
1031 <item>X application defaults </item>
1035 <item>Policy for packages using the X Window System and FHS issues
1039 <item>No package may contain or make hard links to conffiles </item>
1041 <item>Noted that newer dpkg versions do not require extreme care in
1042 always creating the shared lib before the symlink, so the unpack
1047 <sect> Version 3.1.1.0
1049 <p> Released Nov 1999.
1053 <item>Correction to semantics of architecture lists in Build-Depends
1054 etc. Should not affect many packages
1058 <sect> Version 3.1.0.0
1060 <p> Released Oct 1999.
1064 <item><file>/usr/doc/<package></file> has to be a symlink pointing to
1065 <file>/usr/share/doc/<package></file>, to be maintained by postinst
1069 <item>Introduced source dependencies (Build-Depends, etc.) </item>
1071 <item><file>/etc/rc.boot</file> has been deprecated in favour of
1072 <file>/etc/rcS.d</file>. (Packages should not be touching this directory,
1073 but should use update-rc.d instead)
1076 <item>update-rc.d is now the <em>only</em> allowable way of accessing the
1077 <file>/etc/rc?.d/[SK]??*</file> links. Any scripts which manipulate them
1078 directly must be changed to use update-rc.d instead. (This is
1079 because the file-rc package handles this information in an
1083 <item>Architecture-specific examples go in
1084 <file>/usr/lib/<package>/examples</file>
1085 with symlinks from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples/*</file>
1086 or from <file>/usr/share/doc/<package>/examples</file> itself
1089 <item>Updated FHS to a 2.1 draft; this reverts <file>/var/state</file> to
1090 <file>/var/lib</file>
1092 <tag>9.7; mime-policy</tag>
1093 <item>Added MIME sub-policy document </item>
1095 <item>VISUAL is allowed as a (higher priority) alternative to EDITOR
1098 <item>Modified liblockfile description, which affects
1099 mailbox-accessing programs. Please see the policy document for
1103 <item>If a package provides a changelog in HTML format, a text-only
1104 version should also be included. (Such a version may be prepared
1105 using <prgn>lynx -dump -nolist</prgn>.)
1108 <item>Description of how to handle version numbers based on dates
1113 <sect> Version 3.0.1.0
1115 <p> Released Jul 1999.
1119 <item>Added the clarification that the .la files are essential for
1120 the packages using libtool's libltdl library, in which case the .la
1121 files must go in the run-time library package
1125 <sect> Version 3.0.0.0
1127 <p> Released Jun 1999.
1131 <item>Debian formally moves from the FSSTND to the FHS. This is a
1132 major change, and the implications of this move are probably
1136 <item>Only 3 digits of the Standards version need be included in
1137 control files, though all four digits are still permitted.
1140 <item>The location of the GPL has changed to
1141 <file>/usr/share/common-licenses</file>. This may require changing the
1142 copyright files to point to the correct location of the GPL and
1143 other major licenses
1146 <item>Packages that use libtool to create shared libraries must
1147 include the .la files in the -dev packages
1150 <item>Use logrotate to rotate log files
1153 <item>section 5.8 has been rewritten (Programs for the X Window
1156 <tag>9.6; menu-policy</tag>
1157 <item>There is now an associated menu policy, in a separate document,
1158 that carries the full weight of Debian policy
1161 <item>Programs which need to modify the files <file>/var/run/utmp</file>,
1162 <file>/var/log/wtmp</file> and <file>/var/log/lastlog</file> must be
1163 installed setgid utmp
1167 Please note that section numbers below this point may not be up to date
1170 <sect> Version 2.5.0.0
1172 <p> Released Oct 1998.
1176 <item>Rearranged the manual to create a new Section 4, Files
1178 <item>Section 3.3 ("Files") was moved to Section 4. The Sections
1179 that were Section 4 and Section 5 were moved down to become
1180 Section 5 and Section 6.
1182 <item>What was Section 5.5 ("Log files") is now a subsection of the
1183 new Section 4 ("Files"), becoming section 4.8, placed after
1184 "Configuration files", moving the Section 4.8 ("Permissions
1185 and owners") to Section 4.9. All subsections of the old
1186 Section 5 after 5.5 were moved down to fill in the number
1190 <item>Modified the section about changelog files to accommodate
1191 upstream changelogs which were formatted as HTML. These
1192 upstream changelog files should now be accessible as
1193 <file>/usr/doc/package/changelog.html.gz</file>
1195 <item>Symlinks are permissible to link the real, or upstream,
1196 changelog name to the Debian mandated name.
1198 <item>Clarified that HTML documentation should be present in some
1199 package, though not necessarily the main binary package.
1201 <item>Corrected all references to the location of the copyright
1202 files. The correct location is <file>/usr/doc/package/copyright</file>
1204 <item>Ratified the architecture specification strings to cater to the
1209 <sect> Version 2.4.1.0
1211 <p> Released Apr 1998.
1213 <sect1> Policy Manual:
1215 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic links:</tag>
1216 <item>symbolic links within a toplevel directory should be relative,
1217 symbolic links between toplevel directories should be absolute
1218 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 2)
1221 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:</tag>
1222 <item>manpages for games should be installed in <file>/usr/man/man6</file>
1223 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue#6, topic 3)
1227 <sect1> Packaging Manual:
1229 <item>Updated prefix of chapter 12, Shared Libraries:
1230 ldconfig must be called in the postinst script if the package
1231 installs shared libraries
1232 (cf., Policy Weekly Issue #6, fixes:bug#20515)
1236 <sect> Version 2.4.0.0
1238 <p> Released Jan 1998
1241 <tag>Updated section 3.3.4 Scripts:</tag>
1243 <item>/bin/sh may be any POSIX compatible shell
1244 <item>scripts including bashisms have to specify <file>/bin/bash</file>
1246 <item>scripts which create files in world-writable directories
1247 (e.g., in <file>/tmp</file>) should use tempfile or mktemp for creating
1251 <tag>Updated section 3.3.5 Symbolic Links:</tag>
1252 <item>symbolic links referencing compressed files must have the same
1253 file extension as the referenced file
1256 <tag>Updated section 3.3.6 Device files:</tag>
1257 <item><file>/dev/tty*</file> serial devices should be used instead of
1258 <file>/dev/cu*</file>
1261 <tag>Updated section 3.4.2 Writing the scripts in <file>/etc/init.d</file>:
1263 <item>all <file>/etc/init.d</file> scripts have to provide the following
1264 options: start, stop, restart, force-reload
1265 <item>the reload option is optional and must never stop and restart
1269 <tag>Updated section 3.5 Cron jobs:
1270 <item>cron jobs that need to be executed more often than daily should
1271 be installed into <file>/etc/cron.d</file>
1274 <tag>Updated section 3.7 Menus:
1275 <item>removed section about how to register HTML docs to `menu'
1276 (the corresponding section in 4.4, Web servers and applications,
1277 has been removed in policy 2.2.0.0 already, so this one was
1281 <tag>New section 3.8 Keyboard configuration:
1282 <item>details about how the backspace and delete keys should be
1286 <tag>New section 3.9 Environment variables:
1287 <item>no program must depend on environment variables to get a
1288 reasonable default configuration
1291 <tag>New section 4.6 News system configuration:
1292 <item><file>/etc/news/organization</file> and <file>/etc/news/server</file>
1293 should be supported by all news servers and clients
1296 <tag>Updated section 4.7 Programs for the X Window System:
1298 <item>programs requiring a non-free Motif library should be provided
1299 as foo-smotif and foo-dmotif package
1301 <item>if lesstif works reliably for such program, it should be linked
1302 against lesstif and not against a non-free Motif library
1306 <tag>Updated section 4.9 Games:
1307 <item>games for X Windows have to be installed in <file>/usr/games</file>,
1312 <sect> Version 2.3.0.1, 2.3.0.0
1314 <p> Released Sep 1997.
1317 <item>new section `4.2 Daemons' including rules for
1318 <file>/etc/services</file>, <file>/etc/protocols</file>,
1319 <file>/etc/rpc</file>, and <file>/etc/inetd.conf</file>
1322 <item>updated section about `Configuration files':
1323 packages may not touch other packages' configuration files
1326 <item>MUAs and MTAs have to use liblockfile</item>
1329 <sect> Version 2.2.0.0
1331 <p> Released July 1997.
1334 <item>added section 4.1 `Architecture specification strings':
1337 where <arch> is one of the following:
1338 i386, alpha, arm, m68k, powerpc, sparc.
1341 <item>detailed rules for <file>/usr/local</file></item>
1343 <item>user ID's</item>
1345 <item>editor/pager policy</item>
1347 <item>cron jobs</item>
1349 <item>device files</item>
1351 <item>don't install shared libraries as executable</item>
1353 <item>app-defaults files may not be conffiles</item>
1356 <sect> Version 2.1.3.2, 2.1.3.1, 2.1.3.0
1358 <p> Released Mar 1997.
1361 <item>two programs with different functionality must not have the
1364 <item>"Webstandard 3.0"</item>
1366 <item>"Standard for Console Messages"</item>
1368 <item>Libraries should be compiled with `-D_REENTRANT'</item>
1370 <item>Libraries should be stripped with <prgn>strip --strip-unneeded</prgn>
1374 <sect> Version 2.1.2.2, 2.1.2.1, 2.1.2.0
1376 <p> Released Nov 1996.
1379 <item>Some changes WRT shared libraries
1382 <sect> Version 2.1.1.0
1384 <p> Released Sep 1996.
1387 <item>No hard links in source packages</item>
1389 <item>Do not use <prgn>dpkg-divert</prgn> or <prgn>update-alternatives</prgn>
1390 without consultation </item>
1392 <item>Shared libraries must be installed stripped </item>
1395 <sect> Version 2.1.0.0
1397 <p> Released Aug 1996.
1400 <item>Upstream changelog must be installed too </item>